Reintroduction of Rare Plant Species
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Reintroduction is an increasingly important conservation tool to reduce the extinction risk and improve the recovery of rare plant species, including a majority of those listed on the Endangered Species Act. However, many restored populations fail to persist, and the underlying drivers of reintroduction success remains poorly known. Our goal is to identify factors that influence reintroduction outcomes across a broad range of species, sites, and habitats, and to develop generalizations that can guide future rare plant reintroductions. For the past decade, we have developed large-scale datasets for meta-analysis to disentangle the roles of restoration technique, genetics, and species traits on reintroduction success. We distill this information into generalizable, best-practice protocols for conservation practitioners.
Our long-term reintroduction program with Pyne’s ground-plum (Astragalus bibullatus), a federally endangered plant species, applies an adaptive reintroduction approach whereby sequential experiments test specific hypotheses on how microenvironment, propagule stage, transplant season, genetic origin, and vertebrate herbivores affect demographic vital rates. Our research is being conducted across several natural areas in the Nashville Basin to increase the occupancy of Pyne’s ground-plum in its historical range (Stones River Watershed). |
Population Dynamics of an Endangered Wildlfower
Understanding what factors cause population decline is the first step in reducing the extinction risk of rare plant species. For over a decade, we have been monitoring the demographic rates of the federally endangered wildflower, Pyne’s ground-plum (Astragalus bibullatus), in permanent plots across a range of microenvironments, management treatments, and population sizes to understand how these factors interact to influence population viability. We also couple observational studies with experiments to discern the relative importance of abiotic and biotic drivers on population growth. This project is conducted in partnership with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC). To learn more, read our recent blog post and check out this episode on Tennessee’s Wild Side.
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Restoration Ecology of Ozark Woodlands
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Woodlands throughout the Ozark border region have undergone substantial changes in structure and function associated with disruption of frequent low-intensity fire regimes, logging, livestock grazing, and other land-use practices following Euro-American settlement. As a consequence, most contemporary woodlands maintain greater densities of trees, greater abundance of exotic species, and reduced diversity of native forbs and graminoids. Research in our lab addresses barriers to enhancing biodiversity in restored woodlands and develops solutions to reversing ecological degradation. To learn more, read about our IMLS-sponsored woodland restoration project at the Missouri Botanical Garden's Shaw Nature Reserve .
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Conservation Seed Science
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Our conservation seed science program conducts research on the seed biology of native plants, and collects and stores seeds of rare plants for ex suit conservation. Our research goals are twofold. First, to advance knowledge on the regeneration niche of rare species, we use controlled experiments (lab and field) to understand how habitat-based cues (e.g., temperature, light, and soil abiotic and biotic properties) regulate dormancy-break, seed-bank formation, and germination timing. Second, we test methods and techniques to break seed dormancy and maximize germination of rare plants using the fewest seeds possible in our conservation seed-bank.
Our conservation seed-banking program focuses on globally imperiled plants in the North American Central Highlands, with a particular focus on the Ozark Highlands, Ouachita Mountains, and the Nashville Basin. Conservation seed banking and related ex situ conservation strategies involve storing plants away from their natural habitats to support (rather than substitute for) habitat preservation, restoration, and management. Frozen seed provides a safety net for species or populations in case they become extinct in the wild, or before their habitats can be protected or restored. In turn, ex situ collections provide source material for reintroducing endangered species and habitat restoration. The Missouri Botanical Garden is a participating member in the Center for Plant Conservation (CPC), a coordinated network of 68 botanical gardens, arboreta, and research institutions in the United States and Canada. Collectively, the network maintains more than 2,000 of North America's most at-risk species in CPC’s |